Modern inventory systems, such as those in mail order warehouses, supply chain distribution centers, airport luggage systems, and custom-order manufacturing facilities, face significant challenges in responding to requests for inventory items. As inventory systems grow, the challenges of simultaneously completing a large number of packing, storing, and other inventory-related tasks become non-trivial. In inventory systems tasked with responding to large numbers of diverse inventory requests, inefficient utilization of system resources, including space, equipment, wireless network setup and manpower, can result in lower throughput, unacceptably long response times, an ever-increasing backlog of unfinished tasks, and, in general, poor system performance. Particular safety issues may arise when dealing with an automated or semi-automated inventory system that creates further inefficiencies. For example, an entire warehouse may need to be shut down for a period of time to allow for maintenance to be performed on a particular portion of the warehouse or to fix a part of the automated inventory management system. Other solutions for performing maintenance or attempting to fix a problem in an automated/semi-automated inventory system may pose safety concerns that are unacceptable for entities.